thousands of students in montgomery county. what parents and kids need to know as the new year gets under way. >> back to business. president obama returns to washington after his vacation on the vineyard. the hot button issues he's expect to tackle on the political agenda. >> clear and present danger. out of control flames out west and two firefighters are dead. this morning the race against time to keep the blaze from destroying nearby homes. good morning and welcome to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm barbara harrison. it is monday, august 31st, 2009. last day of this month. for some, the last day of summer. i don't know if tom agrees with that. let's take a look outside. beautiful morning out there. 65 eedeons.gr wow. really feels like fall. >> yeah, it certainly does. in fact, it's feeling kind of like winter out in thede mo s, down into the 40s in ysleutldard anwe some of the in west now. elkins only 52, hagerstown down to 59. in washington, 56. ereaorn st te shheinpper u0ea s a e'e oittbifs. there's quite a bit ooussdiclour

olssouneoudiar nd. t ng arutsiasr o tso our south east.east. there are some sprinkles in the neck. we may see some passing showers sond ahof e at as washington up t th ugmorod-g,mirning, into early afternoon, but elsewhere mostly cloudy this morning, then some sun back ts afoockternn. highs reaching the mid0-7tes. a very cool morning tomorrow morning, low and mor m f0s lows under a mostly c farsky. tomorrow mostly sunny. delightful highs only the upper 70s, low humidity in place through the rest of the week wednesday and thursday, highs eaju nstsk r80. morning lows upper0s 5 to nrea 60. aidr cay, s fewlo udaround, highs ne 80ut b the weekend's t looking great. afternoon highs in the low 80s with low humidity still in place and sunshine. that's the way it looks on this final day of august 2009. >> tomorrow begins fall. >> meteorological fall. everybody else, don't worry about it. >> thank you, tom.

>> meteorologists all have their fall jackets on tomorrow. >> yes. >> let's go to jerry edwards and take a look at the roads. >> jerry, good morning. >> good morning. let's head out, take a look and see how the commute's going. so far so good along interstate 66. clear, dry road surfaces. watch out for the youngsters. they're coming back. not in fairfax county yet. montgomery, prince george's and the district, of course. right now 66, no worries. elsewhere, take a check along route 50 interchange over the bay bridge, no worries. northeast washington, kenilworth avenue down to east cap is fine. southeast headed toward the -- southeast/southwest freeway we're okay. no worries either direction to or across the wilson bridge. back to you. >> thank you very much, jerry. it is the end of summer in montgomery county. that's because kids are waking up bright and early for this, the first day of school for them. this morning there are crossing guard and school zone safety reminders. montgomery county police are reminding drivers and residents that most of the county schools are re-opening today, and this

requires extra vigilance to ensure the continued safety of school children during this critical time of year. prince george's county schools say that they have been working around the clock trying to nail down schedules for more than 1,200 students. those students still do not have their permanent class schedules. thousands more were without schedules for the first week of classes last week. the county school superintendent called the mishap inexcusable. he blames a computer problem for these delays. >> as students at george washington universithead back to school this morning, they're being warned about a spike in violent crime in the neighborhood. there have bee i mesn rnheribe may.nc thet msiosec hen rnapt mpe weekend at 21st and l street, just blocks from the campus. police say some have involved large groups of people attacking people in the streets and some of those victims have been gw students. >> people in the second district who are in charge of foggy

bottom and they've assured me that they will step up patrols and certainly have more undercover officers in the neighborhood, particularly with school starting now. >> something i think about, something in the movies but not necessarily real life, even though it is, if that makes sense. so, i mean, i guess it's sort of eye-opening. >> police are remining students to always travel in pairs or groups, especially at night. >> well, congress returns to work next week with health care reform being its top priority. without the negotiator senator ted kennedy in the mix, democrats will now have to figure out how or whether they can get any republicans on board. tracie potts joins us live from capitol hill. she has the latest on this battle. good morning, tracy. >> good morning, everyone. getting this done and getting it done this year looks tough. hope for getting it done with republicans and democrats on board, a bipartisan effort don't look good at this point because both sides are firmly planted in

their corners and as you said, the senate's best negotiator is no longer around to pull them out. the loss of accept tour ted kennedy in the middle of trying to craft a deal on health care means democrats need a new leader and they're looking to the white house for help. >> well, i think the president's got to decide in a sense that he has to step up and train this again for us. >> reporter: analysts say with congress deeply divided -- >> we're looking at a congress that's never been more polarized. >> reporter: president obama must set a clear course. >> sooner or later the president has to weigh in and he has to carry the ball. >> he has failed to articulate a strong message about what he wants in a final bill. >> reporter: what republicans want, what they say angry constituents want is to start over. >> they've said we need to scrap these five bills and take the time to develop the real solutions that the american people want and need. >> reporter: is a government-run shoorngs option one of those soluti

solutions? lawmakers are divided. they're all worried about the cost and there's no consensus about what kennedy would have done. >> what kennedy would do is fight for the public option. >> kennedy would know a number of those things can't be done in a bipartisan way. >> reporter: democrats and republicans now looking to a new leader. president obama's got just a few more days to figure out how he'll approach this. he is back in washington this morning but he's still on vacation for another week. live in capitol hill this morning, i'm tracie potts. >> thanks very much. >> wildfires are threatening more than 10,000 homes in southern california. the fires have already killed two los angeles county firefighters who died when their vehicle rolled down the side of a mountain. governor arnold schwarzenegger is urging everyone in the path of the fire to get out while they can, and officials warn that conditions could get worse before they get better. >> if we were to get a santa ana wind event occur, it could blow

this fire all over the place and give challenges to firefighters that we're not currently having. but we have our hands full for sure. >> the fires have already destroyed more than two dozen buildings. >> our time right now is 5:06. we have 65 degrees out there. new details in that kidnapping case, that horrible case of a girl who was held hostage for nearly two decades. >> plus, the miracle at sea. where three fishermen were found alive, surviving for days on only crackers and gum. >> and the daughter of a former president has a new gig, putting her in the spotlight of morning television.

good morning. dark early on this monday. we have a cloudy sky this morning. on radar we are get ago f sprinkles now in southern maryland, southern st. mary's county and across the northern neck of virginia, just now moving across the bay and heading near cambridge. that will be passing south of washington this morning in throughout the rest of the day. temperatures are certainly

cooler than average for late august morning. now 66 in washington. we're in the low and mid-60s in montgome, fairfax, prince george's and arlington counties. 50s shn shenandoah. out in the mountains, a few locations in the 40s. oakland, maryland, 46 degrees. other rain in southeastern virginia, down into the carolinas. that may be passing south and east of washington today. a cloudy morning but sun coming back elsewhere, highs reaching mid-70s. low humidity in place with a sunny day, clear, cool evenings for the next several days. in the week than, looks le we'll stay dry with highs near 80 degrees. how's the commute? >> very quiet so far, just the way we like it. i-270 southbound toward hyattstown, from germantowto the split, lanes open. northbound 270 looking good as well. southbound moving nicely. elsewhere, trip into southeast very, very quiet. no big deals to report on the beltway between college park all the way to the american legion bridge. traveling both directions between the 270 spur and the

bridge, be careful, uneven pavement. repaving in the overnight hours. back to you. >> thanks, jerry. >> thank you, jerry. >> our time 5:11. the temperature 65 degrees in washington. what health experts say many people are doing at work that l could be putting their lives at risk. >> plus, looking for a career change in these tough economic times? next at 5:15, how you can go back to school to learn a new trade for absolutely free.

good morning and welcome back. students in montgomery county are waking up earlier than they would like to this morning perhaps because they're all heading back to school. out in california, governor arnold schwarzenegger is asking thousands of people in the path of a massive wildfire to evacuate this morning. the fire in northern los aeles county has already consumed more than 60 square miles and destroyed 18 homes and businesses. two firefighters were also killed when their vehicle rolled off a mountain side as they were fighting those flames. president obama returns to work today following a week long vacation on martha's vineyard. the first family arrived back in washington last night.

now that the president is back, his top priority will be passing health care reform. the first family plans to vacation again over the labor day weekend at camp david. >> in this morning's jobs 4 you report, an offer that's hard to refuse. free classes for job seekers. kimberly suiters tells us why one company is footing the bill to train the unemployed. >> reporter: how many of you have been to las vegas or gambled? anybody? >> reporter: this is not your mothers classroom. >> reporter: how many of you willing to lose it? this could be your ticket not your next job. >> the message to whoever might hire me that you're not just sitting around. you're trying to broaden horizons, broadier skills or build on what you've already learned. >> reporter: stevelearned a lot from his job at aol. when his job was slashed he took advantage of this. anyone who loses a job can take

a course in i.t., project or business management for free. >> my colleagues here have decided for the good of the industry to offer up the $500,000 so essentially it comes basically from our merit pay and bonus pool. >> reporter: they also know it's good pr. when adam gets his next job, he may recommend his company to use esi to train. >> jobs get canceled or there's hiring freezes or layoffs that make it really difficult to find the right fit. >> reporter: he's interested in work as a project manager which may sound vague. >> when we are younger, we are predisposed to take more risks because it's the nature of the human experience. organizationings go through the same thing. >> reporter: you don't have to look far to see where they're needed. >> there's a project right down the street here on glebe road which is going to be the new educational center for virginia tech going up which was the original car lot over there. i don't know if you remember that. >> reporter: he's talking about this construction site, the old

chevrolet dealership. that's where i bought my first car. he says on a project like that, you'll have at least two project managers, one for construction and one for the virginia tech education facility side. >> in times like these, training is almost always one of the first things to be cut when a company is looking to save money. >> reporter: but that is not always so. esi on counting on business analysis being a growth industry, seeing a global need for 33 million more project managers by 2016. >> here's our risk. >> esi is currently hiring they have nine openings in their arlington office and one each in new york, chicago and san francisco. >> well, could a bad work environment be bad for your health? a new study suggests that feeling insecure about your job may be a stronger indicator of health problems than even smoking or high blood pressure.

researchers looked at surveys from nearly 2,000 you a dults. that found that one out of five surveyed felt insecure about their jobs which researchers say increases stress levels. >> the shuttle "discovery" has docked with the international space station. the seven crew members from "discovery" embraced the six space station residents late last night when the hatches between the two crafts opened. this is the second time ever 13 people have been together in space. "discovery" took off late friday night. it's dropping off thousands of pounds of equipment, including a treadmill named after comedian stephen colbert. "discovery" will spend more than a week in the space station. >> in sports this morning the nationals head to san diego today looking for better luck than they had in st. louis. >> hakem dermish has more now in your sports minute. >> good morning, everyone. your sports minute begins with the nationals. yesterday in st. louis, nats starter garrett mock was cruising along until the sixth

inning. albert pujols singled back up the middle, scoring colby rasmus and that proved to be the difference. cards win it 2-1. at the little league world series, the boys from clul a vista, california, rallied from three runs down to beat the kids from chinese taipei 6-3. calirnia captures the state's sixth world series little league title. jake cutler back in denver for the first time since being traded to chicago. cutler was 15 of 21 for 144 yards and one touchdown. the bears beat the broncos 27-17. and in golf, at the barclays, fairfax native steve marino had a share of the lead going into the final round, but struggled all day long. marino shot a 6 over and finished tied for 15th. the winner was this man. keith slocum who knocked down a putt on 18 to win the tournament at 9 under par. it's slocum's third pga tour victory. that's your sports minute. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. >> the "today" show has a new correspondent with white house experience.

jenna bush hager, one of george bush's twin daughters, will be a reporter on the "today" show. she'll be based here in washington and report various issues, especially education. she works as a teacher now in baltimore and has written two books. bush-hager will split her time between her teaching job and her new on-air assignment. >> our time now is about 5:19, getting close to 5:21. time for checking traffic and weather on the 1s. >> let's check in with meteorologist tom kierein up in storm center 4 to talk about this fall weather we're having. it's feeling really nice out there this morning. >> it is autumnal, certainly not august-like, that's for sure as we finish off august, the 31st day of august starting off with a cloudy sky. it's only in the low and mid-60s around washington, the nearby suburbs. on radar getting light areas of light rain now southern maryland, northern neck of virginia now moving into the lower eastern shore. farther to our west and north, only in the mid and upper 50s. out in the mountains, a few locations are in the 40s this morning. it's in the upper 60s southern maryland on the eastern shore. highs today with increasing

sunshine and into the mid-70s. a chance of a passing shower south and east of washington. tomorrow, wednesday and thursday, sunny each day, highs near 80. morning lows in the 50s to near. a look at the weekend, that will be coming up in ten mutes. how's the traffic? >> start with northeast washington where it's very quiet commute along new york avenue. here at bladensburg road continuing down to the 3rd street tunnel, travel lanes are open. rhode island avenue, kenilworth avenue, same stories there. over on the beltway on the outer loop as you travel from springfield to and across the wilson bridge, 7 minutes. tack on another 16 minutes off the wilson bridge up to route 50. staying with the beltway from route 50 up to i-95 and college park, just 8 more minutes right now. smooth sailing. barbara and joe, back to you. >> thanks, jerry. >> thanks, jerry. our time 5:21, 65 degrees. why those pesky automated phone calls that interrupt your day, your dinner and everything else will soon be a thing of the past. >> also tramg difficult in the skies when an air show

performance goes terribly wrong and a fighter jet plummets to the ground. >> the amazing story of survival for three men lost at sea and how they made it out alive. t

two people died sunday when a fighter jet crashed during an air show in poland. take a look at this video. the rush an-made jet was performing a dive when it seemed to lose power and crash behind the trees. both pilots in the plane were killed. a defense official says birds likely caused the crash when they flew into the engine. >> a remarkable story of survival at sea for eight days, three fishermen from texas were missing. they were last seen 75 miles off the shore in the gulf of mexico. the coast guard launched a massive search but called it off friday night without fining them. the next day, saturday, though a

sports fisherman came upon the missing crew members 180 miles off the coast. the fishermen survived eight days of heat by eating crackers, chewing gum and whatever water they could suck out of the boat's fresh water tank. >> our time now is 5:26. why police are sending out words of warping to local college students. >> it's that time of year again, back to school. we're live with some safety concerns parents and students need to know about. >> also, dangerous conditions in southern california. the out of control wildfires that continue to burn out of control.

back to school. what parents need to know as thousands of montgomery county students head back to class. >> top priority. the political agenda for president obama fresh off his vacation in the vineyard. >> firestorm. the race against time in california as wildfires claim lives anthreaten thousands of

homes. good morning, everyone, and welcome to "news 4 today." i'm barbara harrison. >> good morning to you. i'm joe krebs on this monday, this 31st and final day of august 2009. let's take a look outside. we have some big, big changes copping this week in the weather. it's going to be like fall has dropped in on us. because it is the beginning, of meteorological fall, actually tomorrow. >> we're feeling it anyway, even this morning. >> that is for sure. out in fng a ll cnt hhias wintry chill hasnd nylomaoncati -4idlo mhe t0s mid-40s in wrnt maryland and parts of west er hs i a entlevitit lhiee an b b inf ginnra ltle bit o rarain.oving m color the lower right of yo esc,sc that is lightaithnou snou t. s mary's county, the northern neck ofa, v vgini that's headi across the bay into the lower rt thf paeasrnte shore.e.

-6ol lco andid-6 m0s in go mery county now as well asmo rilington,rfnd fai pax a e george's counties. gi al areas in lawema, r ndatherywatchers reporting temperatures in the upper 50s now. other areas of rain extend from southeast virginia into the carolinas. that may be passing south andat east of washington today. highs mid-70s, but low humidity in place with highs in the 70s unan sedinsh tuesday, wednesday and thursday.in looks like we'll still dry into next weekend. that's way it looks. back in ten minutes with another update. >> all right, tom. thank you. >> sounds delightful. let's go to jerry edwards now and see whether the traffic is cooperating on this monday. >> hey there. yes, so far we're doing okay. picking up early morning volume, a little more volume than we've seen for the last couple of months, of course, as back to school for a lot of youngsters. on 395 northbound not to worry. still looking pretty good heading past glebe road up, main lanes and hov lanes doing fine. southbound 395, no concerns. if you're making the trip in from the west, i-66, lanes are

reported open. haymarket all the way on in. dulles toll road is quiet. both directions at the wilson bridge moving along quite nicely thus far. barbara and joe, back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> thanks a lot. students in montgomery county are waking up earlier than they're used to for the last several months because summer for them is officially over. >> that's right. the first day of school is here which means it's time to put down those video games and pick up the books and pencils. news 4's tracee wilkins joins us live with more on what students can expect this year. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. hopefully they were looking at some of their books over the summer, i hope it wasn't all video games. it will be difficult for them to get back into the speed of things when they get back to school here. 139,000 students in montgomery county. it is the largest school system in maryland. the 16th largest in the nation. it's also considered one of the nation's top school systems. it tops the lists all over the country.

montgomery county is a school system to imitate. it has one of the highest high school graduation rates in the untry and always has a number of its schools on best schools lists. in fact, there was a book written about montgomery county schools and how successful the system is and also how its superintendent does things. it's also one of the most diverse school system. 22% african-american, 15% asian, 21% latino and 40% white students. there are more than 11,500 teachers in this system, and this year they have 550 new teachers. it promises to be an exciting year. they also have a new elementary school this year. but the thing the school system wants folks to be aware of is that we are talking about the first day of school and it's time for drivers to pay very close attention to safety and making sure that they pay attention to those students as they're crossing in the crosswalks, et cetera, and they're also saying to drivers, if you don't need to drive in front of a school, avoid the area altogether because you can expect some serious delays, especially on the first day. i'm tracee wilkins, live here.

we'll have the superintendent in a few minutes. >> mixed emotions for students. happy to see their friends. thank you tr >>trksanth. >>ks .an a stude injurseriousie iuries afr a o a rag rkt gegathrs aveniy it of maryland. snttu thehe sge. itpewe hve tapge. g. hpe2:30rny inmo wi s sedaertnrnmoesg.y waenansgi hng it looks like tstd t enwas hanging over r the eded oge thef garage before he fe t te o llndgrth.ou lit' too e early to say whether he was drunk. >> a white supremacist charged with killing a security guard at the u.s. holocaust museum will be arraigned in federal court this week. police say james von brunn shot and killed officer stephen t. johns back on june 10th. the 89-year-old was later indicted in july on seven counts, including first degree murder. his arraignment is set for wednesday in u.s. district court. if convicted, von brunn could face the death penalty.

>> well, a big story we're keeping a close watch on this monday morning, those wildfires burning out in southern california. the flames have already claimed the lives of two firefighters. the flames are still spreading. at least eight fires are burning right now. jay gray reports that conditions may get even worse before they improve. >> reporter: this morning, things are a bit tgher for crews in the foothills of los angeles. now fighting not only the flames but the emotions that come with losing two of their own, two los angeles county firefighters have died battling thetation fire as it continues to grow. fueled bay seemingly endless supply of dried-out brush and timber. the blaze has already scorched more than 35,000 acres, the flames swallowing more than two dozen structures and closing in on as many as 12,000 more. >> just red all over. all you could see was a black mountain and red flames. >> reporter: fire teams struggled to protect what they

can. >> the fire gets down in those drains, runs right up in the back of those homes. that's what we're seeing right now. >> reporter: they worry mother nature could unleash another weapon in this fight. >> if we were to get a santa an in wind event occur, it could blow the wind all over this place. we have our hands full for sure. >> reporter: crews already stretched past their limits. jay gray, nbc news, los angeles. >> the station fire is the largest and considered to be the most dangerous of the eight still active wildfires. >> today president obama is back in washington. he returns to work after his vacation to martha's vineyard with a number of challenges ahead of him. on the top of the list, health care reform. he'll beebe without one of his biggest allied, though, senator ted kennedy. democrats say the best way to honor kennedy is set aside rhetoric and pass a plan that cuts costs and extends coverage. congress, meanwhile, returns to work after labor day.

>> our time right now is 5:36, 65 degrees outside. thousands turnut to pay their respects to the memory of massachusetts senator edward kennedy. >> also, investigators combing for clues linked to that 18-year-old kidnapping case in california. >> plus, why the days of being interrupted by pesky automated phone calls are about to end.

ease swinelu f sfears with bargain blast. bargain blast. of ingfes re arie f is offering a free cxrolonif ot wi teachers ro pisamgrwion.. is program begins dawey. ea wednda y. and search e about this,o bargain blast. >> let's talk about this fall weather we're feeling out there this morning at 5:40, almost 5:41. here's tom kierein. good morning. >> fresh and cool as you step out the door on this monday morning. good morning. the 31st day of august starting

off feeling more like a late september morning. on radar, light rain right now in the northern neck of virginia, a little bit of moderate rain farther south and east of there. this is passing south and east of washington, now moving across the eastern shore, but farther west and north there's no precipitation around the region. temperatures are certainly cool, right now in the low and mid-60s around washington, in the nearby suburbs. upper 60s in southern maryland. 50s in the shenandoah valley. only in the 40s in a few locations in the mountains. some other areas of rain out of the carolinas will pass south and east of the metro area later on today with increasing sunshine this afternoon. we should make night the mid-70s after a cloudy start. low humidity in place tuesday, wednesday, thursday with highs upper 70s each day with lots of sunshine. a look at your s btousportec fat and the tropics in ten minutes. jerry, how's the traffic? >> start out with the capital beltway north of up to where it's still pretty quiet. outer loop as you travel from new hampshire avenue to georgia avenue, no early concerns. the travel lanes are open. again, be very careful and very alert around school zones.

got to watch out for the youngsters. montgomery county is back, along with the other jurisdictions started last week. doing okay through northeast, no early hang-ups. increasing volume through southeast at this hour. back to you. >> thanks, jerry. >> jerry, thanks. >> the time now is 5:41, temperature 65 degrees. a gruesome diss could have ever covery inside a mobile home and a killer still on the loose. >> plus, a series of brazen robberies has a local university on alert. next at 5:45, what police are tging studeo s ttodo to

the lazy days of summer are over in montgomery county. this morning, students are heading back to class for a new school year. a massive wildfire's threatening thousands of homes in northern california this morning. the fire has already consumed more than 60 square miles and destroyed 18 homes and businesses. two firefighters were also killed when their vehicle rolled off a mountain side as they were battling the flames. and it's back to work for president obama today. the first family returned from their week long vacation at martha's vineyard last night. on the top of the president's agenda is now passing health care reform. >> well, this is the first day of classes for students attending george washington university, but this morning they're being wbone adut what is hpeni a th metht rostenecap hngpe in thea m ttheost recent hap wethenekd21 weekend at 21 westet,re justfr the campus. bcklofr chesu

now police want students to be on alert. news 4's megan mcgrath joins us from northwest washington this morning with more. good morning, megan. >> reporter: good morning, joe. in just a couple of hours, classes resume here at george washington university, and already you can see young people walking around the foggy bottom area at all hours. apparently, there are some thieves out there who are taking advantage of that situation. students are being asked to be extra careful and to travel in groups following a series of robberies in the area. there have been about a dozen robberies over just the last few months. some of the victims have been gw students. now, some of the incidents involved a large group of people who jumped their lone victim. the most recent incident happened this weekend. at 21st and l street. a woman at that location had her purse snatched off her shoulder. other robberies have happened along pennsylvania avenue near 24th street. now, councilman jack evans represents the area. he's talked to police, and he says that they have assured him they will increase their

presence in this area. >> people in the second district who are in charge of foggy bottom, and they've assured me that they will step up patrols and certainly have more undercover officers in the neighborhood, particularly with school starting now. >> i think it's terrible. ihink it really shows a lack of security in the neighborhood. i think that students are much more of a target than anybody else because they probably walk around the streets more at night than most people who live around here. >> reporter: now, the robberies have not happened on campusth. it's -- the robberies have happened in the area immediately surrounding the gw campus. again, students are being asked just to be cautious. if you're walking around after dark late at night, make sure you don't do it alone. walk in groups whenever possible. joe? back to you. >> thanks very much. megan mcgrath reporting live from northwest washington. >> a man accused of kidnapping a girl and holding her captive for 18 years could be facing new

charges. phillip garrido is accused of snatching jays see lee dugard from the bus stop. authorities say she gave birth to two children after he raped ner hd garrido kept all three in his back yard. police are trying to figure out if garrido is linked to several unsolved murders of prostitutes in the 1990s. meanwhile, dugard has been re-united with her family but it won't be an easy transition. >> they will need psychotherapy. they will needdebriefing. they will need deprogramming because in many ways they have been brainwashed. >> garrido and his wife have pleaded not guilty to 29 counts, including abduction, rape and false imprisonment. >> an eighth person has died after an attack at a georgia mobile home and this morning police say they don't know whether the killer is still on the loose. the bodies were discovered saturday morning. one person remains hospitalized. police have not said how the

victims were wounded, but they have arrested one family member who lived in the home and called 911 to report the attack. 22-year-old guy heinz jr. is charged with tampering with evidence, but police say he is not being called a suspect. >> the public is getting its first chance to visit senator edward kennedy's finalesting place. a long line formed yesterday as people passed by the simple marker and white cross, marking the late senator's gra site. kennedy was buried at arlington national cemetery late on saturday. he was laid to rest just a few hundred feet away from his brothers, president john f. kennedy and senator robert kennedy. people visiting the grave told us they wanted to pay tribute to the man who gave his life to public service. >> i think i have -- the ideals he bestowed in the kids. >> his life made a difference in other lives.

that's what really counts, when you show love and concern for your fellow man. >> some visitors stood in the heat for up to half an hour. >> well, you won't have to wait until next year to read ted kennedy's memoir. wait until next month, apparently. his autobiography will be released on september the 14th. it was originally going to come out next year. then that release date was moved up to october and eventually to just a couple of weeks from now. the initial printing is 1 1/2 million copies which is considered very large. >> we are moving up on 5:51. tom is here to tell us what we can expect from the weather today, especially for kids heading back to school today. >> separation anxiety monday is with us as all the kindergartners, first graders are heading off for the first time. there's the live view from our city camera. sunrise is still about 45 minutes away. getting later and later now, but

we're seeing the first glow over there on the eastern horizon. still cloudy in washington. it's a cool 65 degrees in washington. looking at radar right now, we don't have any rain in washington but where you see this color in southern maryland, northern neck of virginia, this is some light rain there. where you city green, coming down harder. this is passing north and east, moving across the eastern shore, toward delaware, passing well south of washington here over thnext several hours. we'll stay dry throughout the day here as well as west and north. those areas south and east may have some passing showers as the day progresses. low an mid-60s in prince george's county, in fairfax, arlington, montgomery counties, low and mid-60s. upper 50s parts of northern montgomery county, loudoun and frederick, howard county. farther to the west and north, too, mid and upper 50s. under a partly cloudy sky, it's even cooler. in fact, out in the mountains this morning, temperatures there are down into the mid-40s if a few locations in western maryland where they have a few

clouds as well. where you see this color, this is light rain, southeastern virginia. this stretches down into the carolinas and will continue to move off to the north and east. meanwhile, way out here in the atlantic we've got a tropical wave that has formed. this could become tropical storm erika in the next couple of days, maybe become a depression later on today. right now its latest track is taking it on a west/northwesterly track, maybe coming near the virgin islands in the next couple of days. heavy downpours. here's washington, the outer banks. if it does affect our weather wouldn't be until the end of the week. traveling today, could be some flight delays arizona, new mexico, the northern rockies, florida, the gulf coast, up through the south carolina/georgia region. maybe a little bit of rain southeastern virginia. elsewhere, no travel problems. look at the temperatures up in the upper parts of michigan and wisconsin. temperatures are near freezing on this monday morning, the final day of august while here up and down the atlantic seaboard, certainly feeling autumnal except raleigh/durham down to atlanta. there still feeling like a

summer like morning with rain showers and humidity. but it's nice and dry here. we've got a stalled front here just to our south and east. an area of low pressure rolling along that front will pass to our south today and perhaps provide a few showers far south and east of washington. this cool, dry high pressure, that will be moving in and be in place for the rest of the week. now as we go forward over the next 36 hours, here's washington. looks like we'll clear out tonight. by dawn tomorrow off to a clear start. a mostly sunny day here tomorrow as this high pressure moves in and comes in over us her by mid-week, toward the end of the week. here's your bus stop forecast. we'll have our temperatures hevering in the upper 50s and low 60s this morning. students for all the at the bus stops and temperatures will be rather cool throughout the morning under the cloud cover. t sunrise 6:36. then through the rest of e evening and the rest of the da here's just ho s smers awethasoundf some showers south and east of insh.waongt otherwise, a cloudy morning. then some sunshine returng by this afterno as s ghhhiacre the low and mid-70sohuc mac

terolhan average. average highs thiser'm i of yea still in the mid-80s. i sunset at 7:40. by th t,emperatures wn into the 60s. then under aarle c sleky we'll w midnight. then the0s m-5id -5around the metro area by dawn tomorrow. and maybe even in the 40s out in the mountains again tomorrow morning. then for the rest ofhe tay d o afternoon highs tomorrow wonderful, in the upper 70s and lo of sunshine. rrteic week coming up. temperatures with low humidity, morning lows in the 50srr and nr 60 on wednesday and thursday. afternoon highs in the upper 70s to near 80 on wednesday and enursday. into the weekend, maybe c thsmoreloudar ound on friday, just a s cghetnchaf o a owigerf h, nea hr 80. then over the weekend looks great saturday and sunday, sunshine, highs low 80s. that's the way it looks on this monday morning. back with frequent updates throughout the morning. back to school monday. >> a lot of folks think this is the perfect weather. >> it is perfect.

>> some people like it hot. you've heard that. >> yeah, i have heard that. but even they are getting tired of it by now. >> you're right. okay, tom. thank you. >> i don't think there's anybody that likes the humidity, though. >> that's true. some like it hot, likehis guy. >> i like it warm but this is great. this is beautiful weather. got to love it, especially going back to school. have to get tom to take that youngster out of the shorts, put him in some pants. it will be chilly at the bus stop. let's take a look. beltway south of town approaching the wilson bridge, a little bit more volume than we've seen the last seral weeks. let's see what else is happening, making the trip around town. speed chart here on the trip south along i-270, from i-70 to clarks burke, 15 minutes. picking up volume. 21 minutes from route 27 to the beltway. back to you. >> thank you very much. today a telemarketing crackdown takes effect. as of midnight tonight, those annoying robocalls should become

a thing of the past. by robocalls, we mean those recorded telephone messages that companies use to sell you things. the ftc is now banning them. if a telemarketer does not have written consent to call a consumer the company will be fined $16,000 per call. the new rule does not include informational calls. that means you could still hear your telephone ring to tell you about flight updates or, yes, debt collections. political and charity calls are also exempt. >> well, we may be in a recession but according to jewelers we may also be experiencing a new gold rush. it turns out many people are looking to put their money in something they can see and touch. investing in gold shot up 46% in the second quarter of this year. that's because the price of gold has steadily gone up several hundred dollars over the past few years. at more than $900 an ounce now, some people are even having their gold jewelry melted down. >> dealers that i know will buy a watch over the counter that

has a rolex band on it and melt the band because gold is more valuable than the value of the band. >> one word of caution. jewelers say if the price of gold suddenly surges it may be time to sell. that's because it could be driven by speculation. >> well, now to the money crisis and a check on how the foreigns. a slow markets are doing. a slow t srttaort the week overseas. e nikkei was down about eight points today. the hang seng lost 1.9%. the shanghai plummeted 6.7%. u.s. markets will hope to rebound from a down day on friday. the dow was off a little more than 36 points on friday, closing at about 9544. the nasdaq, though, actually gained a point, closing at 2029. >> news 4's helping to find jobs for you. the financial crimes enforcement network is looking for a facilities and property gecilities and property li namantianaspecmelist. spmato 8 6 13 86 to $113,000.6 iifnterted in learning more,

go to nbcwashington.com and search jobs 4 you. >> coming up next at 6:00 a.m., a world leader gets sick with the swine flu and it's the first day of school in montgomery county. we're going to be talking live with school superintendent about the upcoming school year. >> waking up to big changes in the weather.

class act. more and more students will be grabbing their backpacks this morning and heading back to school. in just a few minutes we'll be talking live to the superintendent of montgomery county schools about what you can expect this school year. >> firefight. a dangerous wildfire that has already killed two firefighters is fast -- is moving quickly across southern california and this raging inferno is only getting much tougher to fight. >> good morning, everyone. thanks for waking up with us

this morning for "news 4 today." i'm barbara harrison. >> and good morning to you. i'm joe krebs on this moay, the 31st day of august 2009. let's take a live look outside. beautiful picture of the jefferson memorial this morning. 65 degrees and we're in for one glorious week of weather. >> yeah. tom will tell us all about it right now. a great day to head back to school. feels like a school day. >> it is. it certainly is. if you're preparing your child to head off to school this morning, make sure theya dr lfo for a cool autumn-like morning, even though this is the final day of august, it's feeling more like autumn.a right now on radar, we do have a few showers just south and east of washington that are continuing to pass to the north and east and through the northern neck and southern parts of the eastern shore. it's going to be a wet start to on'tda we d t elsewhere we don't havereny precipitation around the region. here's the forecast for today. i heit's tn low and-6 t mid0s around washington now to0s 5 0srther west and north. 60s bymirnmod-ing.mo remaining cloudy, but then some n breaking out by ontime. there is a small chance of tional passing shower later

on tsng mnioradnd and early thi afternoon, far sou and east of washington shi ghs this afternoon reaching the mid-70s with increasing sunshine and a clear evening. by this time tomorrow morning it's going to be cool, down into the 50s. w nny on tuesday, wednesday and humidity, highs upper 70s. a look at the weekend. that will be coming up in ten minutes at 6:11. >> great. thanks, tom. >> now let's go to jerry edwards and the news 4 traffic network. jerry, dmi monday problems? >> good morning. yeah, unfortunately we're beginning to come across a couple of issues, could cost you a few moments. 95 northbound loading up quickly. a broken down vehicle on the occoquan river bridge. vdot is aware of it. in the peen time, be forewarned. through northeast, look out for the broken down vehicle inbound new york avenue at west virginia and montana avenues. pretty quiet but picking up volume quickly along i-270. back to you. >> thank you very much. school day, school days, good old golden rule days. they are here again for

thousands of students in our area, and this morning it's time for kids in montgomery county to get up and head back to class. news 4's tracee wilkins joins you live from quince orchard high school with more on what to expect this year. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. we are going to be talking live in jus a second with dr. jerry weast who is the superintendent of the montgomery county school system. just to give you a little background here, now montgomery county schools, they are the 16th largest in the nation. when he arrived 11 years ago, they were number 18. so they have grown significantly, and the population has also changed with that growth. during all of these changes, montgomery county has stayed at the top of the list across the nation for improvement and they're breaking more records and they're having more improvements. you guys are definitely the school system to imitate if you are in this area or across the nation. >> it is a good teacher in every classroom, a good employee doing every job. and everybody working together, not making any excuses. poverty shouldn't be an excuse, mobility shouldn't be an excuse

and race certainly shouldn't be an excuse. here we get everybody ready to go to college. >> reporter: let's talk about that. last year the focus was technology and all of the new technology that you all were moving into classrooms. this year you're saying the focus is getting every student off to college. >> off to college. we have been keeping track of the 11 years that i've opened school year in this county, who goes to college and how did they do and we found out that we can get them college ready regardless of their backgrounds. and regardless of some of the impacting circumstances. now we have a college graduation rate twice the nation's graduation rate. we're very proud of our employees, very proud of our students and proud of the weather today. >> reporter: it's great weather. let's talk about diversity here in montgomery county school system. 40% white, 60% minority and most of that african-american and latino. and bridging that gap and that achievement gap has been something you've been working on since you've been here. you're saying that you're seeing some improvements in those areas? >> we stay right up with all of

the area school systems and our outcomes and academic performance is better than almost anybody in america. in fact, our african-americans score as -- get threes on college-ready tests than systems that have nine or ten times more african-american population than we do. we had all of our schools in the top 3.5% in the country. we had some of the top schools in the country and in the world. and now we have a growing, burgeoning enrollment thanks to all the kids coming back from private schools and from all over the country. >> reporter: thank you so much for joining us this morning. so, while so many school systems are trying to figure out how to get their kids past national tests, here in montgomery county they're talking about getting their kids on to college so parents can feel really proud of that as they send their students off for a brand-new year here in montgomery county. i'm tracee wilkins. we'll have more for you in just a bit. >> many students in prince george's county will head out

this morning to start their second week of school. administrators there have been working around the clock trying to straighten out the schedule problems that have plagued more than 1,200 students. those students have been witho schedules from day one because of a computer glitch. the new school superintendent calls this mishap inexcusable. >> southern california now, where the wildfires are now blamed for two deaths. two firefighters were killed when their vehicle was overcome by flames and rolled down the side of a mountain. at least eight wildfires are threatening about 12,000 homes. the largest of those fires is the station wildfire. it's burned more than 35,000 acres. >> as this fire continues to move and to expand, those units will be redeployed to be ahead of that fire, to do everything they can, all that is humanly possible and sometimes superhumanly to protect that property. >> firefighters fear conditions could get worse before they get better if the winds kick up. >> well, president obama is back

from vacation. he returned to washington from his trip to martha's vineyard. he has a lot on his plate for the coming month, as you might imagine. issue number one is health care reform. he will try to persuade congress to pass legislation without the help of the late senator ted kennedy who was one of the leading proponents of reform. the president has about a week to get his game plan in place. congress returns to work after lar day. >> a murder investigation is under way in silver spring after a mah n was shot and killed rig outside his home.erlealo c tomdd evuldg.in t g.inheymo when they ri clce o tde ou hseshodeath.nv igaties fti t ousttht he house justours h rlieear. hce oupohewet ahohear ta trend sme hot re the area around the mehe it's not clear if the two cases are related. >> we are finding jobs for you. the free local class designed to get the unemployed back on their

feet. and three fishermen lost at sea for a week and presumed dead come home alive. how they survived being stranded at sea. >> a first reporter, former first daughter jenna bush hager has a new job on tel

>>weyellott , her sign that emmer is coming tnd with n h today is the finalew ay iys the final day d a bten & at ben &s.y'rr jerry's. re ge,on odaneun see,pati p stig da tingcitores today. that's it. gone. for the year. >> ah. >> gone. good-bye. >> well, we've got -- >> no more sundae mondays. >> nice, wonderful, cool weather this morning. tom says that will be with us for a while. good morning again. >> yes. cloudy and cool now. as we look at radar, a little light rain in the lower eastern shore, as well as near charlottesville, moving to the

north and east. be passing south of washington throughout the day. temperatures 50s farther to our west and north. low and mid-60s in washington, the nearby suburbs. . we'll have afternoon highs climbing into the mid-70s with a little sunshine coming up this afternoon. clear and chilly tonight, low humidity in place tuesday, wednesday, thursday. each day highs will be reaching the upper 70s. looks like it will stay dry friday into the weekend. jerry, how's the traffic on this monday? >> hey, tom, a feast to behold for many a parent out there. all the school buses warming up in montgomery county. the big lot in gaithersburg. they're rolling, rolling, rolling, heading out to get the youngsters. parents are smiling but trying to keep it to a minimum. thank you to chopper 4 for the live picture. 66, broken down car near newt he street, jamming things through vienna. vdot is aware of it. a broken down vehicle in the district, inbound new york avenue, west virginia in the right lane. back to you. >> if you think the kidders having a tough time getting up

this morning, what if you were a school bus? that would be tough. >> get the engine running. we are finding jobs for you. the new classes in the area that are free for anyone who loses their job. and fishermen lost at sea for a week are found sitting on a capsized boar th r

updating the top stories in the news for today. the first bell is about to pping for thousands of students in our area. kids in montgomery county are heading back to school today for their first day of classes. wildfires are threatening to destroy as many as 12,000 homes in southern california. more than a half dozen fires continue to burn. two firefighters were killed when flames overran their vehicle and it rolled down the side of a mountain. officials fear stronger winds could make containing the fires even harder. and it's back to work for president obama today following a week long vacation on martha's vineyard. the first family returned to washington last night. now that the president is back, his top priority will be passing health care reform. first family plans to vacation again over the labor day weekend at camp david.

>> well, in this morning's jobs for you report, an offer that is hard to refuse, free classes for job seekers. kimberly suiters has the details in this morning's jobs 4 you report. >> let me ask you, how many of you have been to las vegas, gambled? >> reporter: this is not your mother's classroom. >> how many of you are willing to bet one dollar and lose it? >> reporter: this could be the ticket to your next job. this man from woodbridge hopes so. >> message to whoever might hire me that, you know, you're not just sitting around. you're trying to broaden your horizons, your skills, trying to build on what you've already learned. >> reporter: he learned a lot from his first and only job at aol. when the company slashed that job, he took advantage of esi international's scholarship program. >> we have multiple risks with scuba diving. >> reporter: anyone who loses a job can take a course in i.t., project or business management for free. >> my colleagues here at esi, have decided for the good of the

industry to offer up to $500,000. essentially it comes basically from our merit pay and bonus pool here. >> reporter: they know it's good pr. when adam gets his next job, he may recommend his company to use esi to train. >> jobs get canceled or there's hiring freezes or layoffs that make it really difficult to find the right fit. >> reporter: he's interested in work as a project manager which may sound vague. >> when we are younger, we are predisposed to make more risks because it's the nature of the human experience. organizations go through the same thing. >> reporter: you don't have to look far to see where they're needed. >> there's a project down the street here on glebe road which is going to be the new educational center for virginia tech going up, which was an old car lot over there. i don't know whether you remember that. >> reporter: he's talking about this construction site, the old chevrolet dealer shich. that's where i bought my first cars, incidentally. he says on a project like that, you'll have two project managers, one for construction

and one for the virginia tech education facility side. >> in times like these, training is almost always one of the first things to be cut when a company is looking to save money. >> reporter: but that won't always be so. esi is counting on business analysis being a growth industry, seeing a global need for 33 million more project managers by 2016. >> here's our risk. >> that's kimberly suiters reporting. esi international is currently hiring. they have nine openings in their arlington office. barbara? >> the recently freed lockerbie bomber rushed to the hospital in libya. abdel baset al megrahi is terminally ill with prostate cancer. that's the reason a scottish judge agreed to release him after only eight years in prison. he's the only man convicted of blowing up pan am flight 103 which killed 270 people. critics allege the deal was made as a favor to libyan leader moammar gadhafi to help seal an

oil deal. th british and scottish leaders say that is simply not true. we have a remarkable story of survival at sea. for eight days, three boaters from texas were missing. they were last seen 75 miles off the shore in the gulf of mexico. the coast guard launch a massive search but called it off on friday without finding them. the next day, saturday, a sports fisherman came upon the missing crew 180 miles from the coast. it all started when one of the fishermen woke up to find his fishing boat filling up with water. >> i'm running around frantically, trying to get everybody up. we're trying to get the water out as fast as we can. within a minute, five seconds, the boat just tumbled over. capsized right there. >> the fishermen survived eight days by -- in the heat out there, too, by eating crackers, chewing gum and whatever water they could suck out of the boat's fresh water tank. 13 is apparently a lucky

number. right now in space, that was the side of the crowd when the crew of the shuttle "discovery" joined the astronauts already on the international pace station. "disvery" docked late last night. it's bringing thousands of pounds of equipment to the space station, including a treadmill named after comedian stephen colbert. "discovery" and its seven crew members will spend more than a week at the station. >> well, the washington nationals head to san diego today looking for better luck than they had in st. louis. hakem dermish has your sports minute. >> good morning, everyone. your sports minute begins with the nationals. yesterday in st. louis, nats starter garrett mock was cruising along until the sixth inning. albert pujols singled back up the middle, scoring colby rasmus and that proved to be the difference. cards win it 2-1. completing a three-game sweep. at the little league world series, the boys from chula vista, california, rallied from three runs down to beat the kids from chinese taipei 6-3.

california captures the state's sixth world series little league title. nfl presson action last night. former broncos qb jake cutler back in denver for the first time since being traded to chicago. cutler was 15 of 21 for 144 yards and one touchdown. the bears beat the broncos 27-17. and in golf, at the barclays, fairfax native steve marino had a share of the lead going into the final round, but struggled all day long. marino shot a 6 over and finished tied for 15th. the winner was this man. keith slocum who knocked down a putt on 18 to win the tournament at 9 under par. it's slocum's third pga tour victory. that's your sports minute. i'm hakem dermish. have a great day. >> let's see what kind of day it's going to be. >> we'll do that at 6:21. time for traffic and weather on the 1s. >> hey, tom. >> hi. good morning. here's a view of our sky over washington this hour. live view from the city camera showing a cloud cover. 15 minutes away from sunrise. under those clouds, we have some temperatures that are down into

the 50s just to our west and north. right now on radar, we have some rain where you see the blue and green in southern maryland, lower eastern shore, the northern neck of virginia. that stretches across central virginia from richmond over to charlottesville, but elsewhere we don't have any precipitation. temperatures to our west and north just in the 50s now northern montgomery county, loudoun, frederick and prince william and fauquier, points west. mid-60s in washington south and east of us. montgomery village a cool 61 degrees. in montgomery county it will be a cloudy start for all the students heading back to school. maybe a passing shower south and east of washington today. otherwise, some sunshine back this afternoon with highs in the mid-70s with low humidity. low humidity still in place tomorrow, wednesday, thursday, highs each day in the upper 70s. like we'll stay dry. jerry, how's the traffic on this monday? >> certainly getting busy. good morning, everyone. montgomery county authorities have closed the westbound lanes of randolph road near columbia pike. an accident being cleaned up, possibly investigated. westbound randolph road is

completely closed now. detour through the neighborhood is set up. eastbound, should be able to get by. traffic on old columbia pike not affected at this point. elsewhere inbound new york avenue good news. the broken down vehicle at west virginia, montana avenues in the process of being hooked up to a tow truck now. another couple minutes that should be out of there. lanes should re-open headed toward the 3rd street tunnel. back to you. >> thank you, jerry. >> thanks, jerry. remembering ted kennedy. the first visitors to the late senator's grave site talk about the special connection they had to the late senator. the first correspondent, former first daughter jenna big. har get as new gig on tv.

well, the "today" show has a new correspondent, with white house experience. jenna bush hager, one of george

w. bush's twin daughters, will be a reporter on the "today" show. she'll be based here in washington and report various issues, especiay education. she works as a teacher in baltimore and has written two books. bush hager will split her time between her teaching job and her new on the air assignment. >> the president of colombia has the swine flu. presidential spokesman announced that alvaro you are ib ahas the h1n1 virus. uribe, who is 57 years old, began feeling symptoms on friday. he's not under quarantine and none of his family members or close associates have shown any symptoms of the disease. he is now the second south american president to come down with the swine flu. costa rica's president was the first, but he has fully recovered now. >> our time is 6:27, 65 degrees. president obama is waking up in washington this morning after

spening the last week in martha's vineyard. what's on his agenda today as he gets back to work. back to school for students in montgomery county. we're live with what parents and students need to know before they head out to catch that big yellow bus.

6:30, good morning. welcome back. breaking news for you, to show you. chopper 4 is over the scene of an accident, this involving a school bus and another vehicle. you can see the back end of that car being loaded onto the flatbed truck. there's a school bus in the picture. this is at east randolph road and old columbia pike. we don't have any information about whether there are any students on the bus or whether there are any injuries, but more on the situation. let's go to jerry edwards now and the news 4 traffic network. >> joe, again, chopper 4 over the scene westbound randolph road. this is very close to old columbia pike. you can see the tow truck is on the scene taking care of one of the vehicles involved in the accident. authorities have been blocking westbound randolph road for a while. eastbound traffic is getting by.

we are td the were, fortunately, no students on the bus at the time of the accident. westbound randolph road coming over from old columbia pike will remain closed for at least another couple of minutes. eastbound traffic will get you by. we'll keep you updated. back to you. >> thanks a lot, jerry. >> thanks very much, jerry. welcome back to "news 4 today" on this monday morning. i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm barbara harrison. it is monday, august 31st, 2009. lots of kids heading back to school today on this beautiful morning. a very fall-like day here in if nation's capital. tom is here to talk about what we can expect. >> does feel like autumn. so have child d child dress accordingly this morning. even though the calendar says t s augus 31 the ug end of september. green inn now in southern eastern hore, the northerkec jusinia to nearrtfawer ndhe art farther west andrt riclouds and temperatures that e inght pe the low and mid-60s this morning and 50s farther

west and north weather watchers ghe reporting. in rockville now, in montgomery county, only 61 degrees. mid a very gebt gentle wind co o o of the north and east. elsewhere, dry. sun back this ooafrnigten, hhs mid-70s. lowum widyitn,hit lots of sunshine around for tuesday, wednesday and thursday, morning lows in the 60s. a look at the weekend coming up in ten minutes at 6:41. >> all right. thank you, tom. >> thanks very much, tom. >> well, it is rise and shine for students in montgomery county today. they're heading back to school. they'll have stories to tell, obviously, about how they spent their summer vacation. we, by the way, spent some of ours doing research on what you can expect this first day of school in montgomery county. news 4's tracee wilkins joins us live with more on what's new. tracee, good morning. >> reporter: 139,000 students will be coming to school this year. montgomery county has the 16th largest school system in

maryland -- i'm sorry, in the country, and is the largest school system in maryland, has been seeing some great success. in fact, there's been a book written about some of the great esses the school system hsuas ense . as published just th w, while the kidserermm so, while the kids wereil hangi out, there was a book written about their superintendent and t whaeth school system e does. it cle dle"leadingor equity. the pursuit of excellent in montgomery county public schools." in this book, they talk about superintendent dr. jerry weast and the work he's done here in the school system and the fact that when he first arrived in the school system it was a majority white school system but they weren't doing well in all of the national tests. some members of the school board were worried aut which way the school system was going to go. he worked to change the direction of the school. as it began and grow and also as the folks who attended this school changed. now that there's a 60% minority student population here with most of those students being african-american and latino, he

says that's no reason for them not to be successful, and they have been successful, topping most national lists in terms of their successes and also achievement here. we talked to him about his book and what he thinks of it. >> i think it's wonderful. it was published by harvardion y education press and written by vaeus h bsrdinesar school. tt p'syre aatcceur reflection of what our employees are able to do if you have high expectations, you actually lead for equity. you don't let race or socioeconomics become an excuse. but you really start aiming at the right north star, getting kids college ready. >> reporter: he says getting students college ready begins at the preschool level. this is some of the work he's been doing in the county to try to make these students as successful as possible. you just heard it. that's what they're focusing on this year, getting students college ready. barbara, remember, this is the county where the teachers said you can take our 5% pay hike. we'll donate that back to the system because we're in hard

times right now financially. we want to make sure the students get the best educati they can. that resulted in $190 million for students here. back to you. >> seems to be paying off for them, too. thank you very much. it's the second week of school in prince george's county. administrators there have been working around the clock trying to straighten out schedule problems that have plagued more than 1,200 students. those students have been without schedules since day one because of a computer glitch. initially, ,000 students didn't have their schedules. the county's new school supp ten dent says there's no excuse for these problems. >> back to work for president obama. he and the rest of the first family rushed to washington and the white house after spend ago week at martha's vineyard. the president won't have a lot of time to get back into the swing of things, though. his agenda is pretty full. the most pressing issue, of course, health care reform. congress returns to work after labor day. many of its leaders are calling on president obama to take the lead in guiding the legislation

through congress. >> well, i think the president's got to decide in a sense that he has, to step up and -- >> president obama will also have to work without the help of the late senator ted kennedy, one of congress' biggest health care reform advocates. >> people are now lining up at arlington national cemetery to pay their respects to the late senator edward kennedy. a long line formed yesterday as people passed by the simple marker and white cross at the late senator's grave site. kennedy was buried late saturday, laid to rest just a few hundred feet away from his brothers, president john f. kennedy and senator robert kennedy. people visiting the grave told us they wanted to pay tribute to the man who gave his life to public service. >> i think i have a lot of the ideals he bestowed in the kids. >> his life made a difference in other lives and that's what really counts, when you show love and concern for your fellow man.

>> despite yesterday's heat, some visitors stood in line as long as a half hour to pass by senator kennedy's grave site. our time right now is 6:37. crime near campus. police have a warning for students at one d.c. university. killer wildfires. two firefighters die trying to protect thousands of homes under siege by flames. >> and what investigators dug up in the back yard where they say a kidnapped girl was held for 18 years, and we will, of course, continue to follow breaking news. an accident involving a school bus on this first day of school in montgomery county.

we're continuing to follow breaking news out of montgomery county. our chopper is over the scene of an accident involving a school

bus and another vehicle at randolph road and old columbia pike. we understand no students were on board that bus at the time. we're going to go to jerry edwards now to see what he has to tell us about what he knows. good morning. >> good morning, jerry. >> good morning. looks like the bus that was involved in the accident in the process of being moved out of there right now. now, authorities did have the westbound lanes of randolph road closed for a little while earlier this morning between old columbia pike and fair land road, but again looks like they're releasing some traffic although police do remain in the right lane. another couple minutes. all lanes westbound should re-open. eastbound has been moving freely for the last few minutes. so good news there. just watch for the flashing lights. another couple of vehicles up there maybe waiting on a tow truck. does appear that traffic is starting to move. there go the police officers. elsewhere, let you know on new york avenue inbound had the broken down car west virginia, montana avenues. appears it has been cleared. travel lanes are open from the anacostia into northwest. tom, how about the forecast for

today? >> off to a cloudy start. feeling like autumn. as we look at the radar, where you see the colors, getting light rain in southern parts of the eastern shore, northern neck of virginia, from richmond to charlottesville. elsewhere, just a cloudy sky and it's certainly feeling more like late september than late august. it's in the 50s far to our west and north, low to mid-60s in washington, the nearby suburbs. we'll have a cloudy morning. some sunshine breaking out this afternoon with highs reaching the mid-70s. then low humidity in place with sunny days and clear, cool evenings tuesday, wednesday and thursday, highs in the 70s each day. should be dry friday into the weekend. i'm back with the bus stop forecast and a look at the tropics in ten minutes, barbara and joe. >> tom, thank you. >> thanks, tom, very much. your time 6:43, 65 degrees out there. putting an end to the days of dinnertime interruption. a new crackdown on robocalls is about to go into effect. and miles and miles blackened. the relentless call california wildfires moving closer tohome s.mes.

>>take a look at these intense flames that are threatening thousands of homes in northern california this morning. eight wildfires are burning across the state right now. they've already claimed the lives of two firefighters and destroyed more than a dozen buildings. and the bad news is they're still spreading. jay gray has more from los angeles. >> reporter: this morning, things are a bit tougher for crews in the foothills of los angeles, now fighting not only the flames but the emotions that come with losing two of their own. two los angeles county firefighters have died battling the station fire as it continues to grow, fueled by a seemingly endless supply of dried-out

brush and timber. the blaze has already scorched more than 35,000 acres, the flames swallowing more than two dozen structures and closing in on as many as 12,000 more. >> just red all over. all you could see was a black mountain and red flames. >> reporter: fire teams struggled to protect what they can. >> the fire gets down in those drains, runs right up in the back of those homes. that's what we're seeing right now. very erratic fire behavior. >> reporter: they worry mother nature could unleash another weapon in this fight. >> if we were to get a santa ana wind event occur, it could blow the wind all over this place. give challenges to firefighters that we're not currently having. we have our hands full for sure. >> reporter: crews already stretched past their limits. jay gray, nbc news, los angeles. >> the station fire is the largest and considered the most dangerous of the eight active wildfires. joe? >> we are now getting a closer look at the back yard compound where authorities say a missing girl was held captive for 18 years.

these pictures come from california. they show authorities searching phillip garrido's back yard. that's where they say he kept jaycee lee dugard and the two children he fathered by raping her. investigators are also searching the property next door. they want to know whether garrido is connected to a string of unsolved murders from the 1990s. well, an eighth person has died after an attack at a georgia mobile home, and this morning police say they do not know whether the killer is still on the loose. the bodies were discovered on saturday morning. one person remains in the hospital. police have not said how the victims were wounded, but they have arrested a family member who lived in the home and called 911 to report the attack. 22-year-old guy heinz jr. is charged with tampering with evidence, but he is not being called a suspect in the murders. >> students at george washington university will return to class today, but a spike in crime has many worried about what's

ane a veze mnbethe r aob dozen robbehea tre a e sinche area since may. theoshe mt rtecen happening thi ek end at21st and l streets, just blocks from the campus. news 4's megan mcgrath joins us from northwest washington this morning with more on what's being done to keep students safe. megan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. summer break is over and classes resume here at george washington university later on this morning, and the kids have actually been trickling into town overhe last week or so. you can see groups of young people walking around the foggy bottom area at all hours of the day and night, and some thieves apparently are taking advantage of that. there have been about a dozen robberies in the area over the last few months. some of the victims, many of the victims have been gw students. some of the incidents involved a large group of people who jumped their lone victim. the most recent robbery happened actually this weekend at 21st and l streets. a woman was out on the street late at night. her purse was actually snatched off her shoulder.

other robberies have happened along pennsylvania avenue near 24th street. now, councilman jack evans represents the area. he's had discussions with police about this spike in crime, the spike in robberies that we've been seeing here in recent weeks. he's been assured that police will beef up patrols in the area. >> i talked to the chief about it, people in the second district who are in charge of foggy bottom, and they've assured me they will step up patrols and certainly have more undercover officers in the neighborhood, particularly with school starting now. >> i think it's terrible. i think it really shows a lack of security in the neighborhood. i think that students are much more of a target than anybody else because they probably walk around the streets more at night than most people who live around here. >> reporter: now, the robberies have happened off campus so we're talking about the streets and the neighborhood immediately surrounding gw university. again, the kids are starting classes again today. everybody is being asked to be careful, and if at all possible,

walk in groups. barbara, back to you. >> good advice. thank you, megan. joe? >> well, the dow improved for eight straight days until friday when stocks took an even than ever so slight dip. courtney reagan joins you now. >> reporter: almost made it nine straight days. futures unfortunately pointing to a lower on on wall street. hopefully we won't be adding to the losses but we could be because of what happened overseas in china's market. it tanked overnight on fears that chinese banks could cut back on their lending. europe is also lower so far in early trading. the final week of summer could prove to be anything but relaxing for investors, with several key economic reports ahead. we'll get data on manufacturing, productivity, the minutes from this month's fed meeting and the monthly jobs report. that's due out on friday. markets are on track for their best august in nine years. the dow's going to start off at

9544 after falling 36 points on friday. the nasdaq did inch up one point to 2028. uncle sam has raked in profits of about $4 billion from eight big banks that have repaid their bailout loans, plus interest. there were concerns the government wouldn't see any returns on the investment. however, they could still lose money from other banks. expect fewer interruptions at the dinner table starting tomorrow because that's when a federal ban on robocalls or those prerecorded telemarketing calls goes into effect. the ban doesn't apply to informational calls, such as flight cancellations or school delays. when it gets colder and you get those snow days, don't worry. you'll still get a call. back to you. >> do you know how many charity calls and political calls? >> reporter: so many. so many. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you. >> well, let's talk about the weather. tom tells us it's going to be a nice day and a pretty nice week, right? >> yeah, indeed. we're starting off with a cloud cover this morning.

certainly feels more like autumn than it does august. right now, 65 in washington and, yeah, 85 is our average high this time of year. we are 20 degrees below that right now under the cloud cover at dawn. no precipitationd here. ti look at the radar, just to the ngn radar right now, we do have some showers. where you see the blue and green, there is some rain now falling in the lower parts of the eastern shore, northern neck of virginia, near richmond and over near charlottesville but elsewhere we don't have any precipitation. we just have the clouds that are in. temperatures far to our west and north in the shenandoah valley, around the blue ridge only in the 50s. montgomery county, now fairfax, arlington, prince george's county in the low 60s. a little bit warmer in southern amaryland maryland. right now around the neighborhood network, a cool 61 degrees, back to class there. in the tropics, here's a developing tropical wave, here are the islands. this may turn into tropical storm erika in the next couple of days. could be flight delays florida through the carolinas.

some rain torther he the north there. maybe a few storms in the desert southwest. a cloudy morning, sun back this afternoon. small chance of showers south and east with highs in the mid-70s. clear tonight, a cool evening. in fact, down right chilly tomorrow morning in many locations. 0stu mid-50s aan we start off y.da es low humidity in place tomorrow, wednesday and thursday with afternoon highs in the upper 70s each day. cool in the mornings. then friday, saturday and sunday s kee'lilo wll stay dry with w degrees and morning lowsn the 60s. a reay n ricicun of weather here as we say good-bye to summer and hello autumn, meteorologically, anyway. that occurs tomorrow. >> yeah, a lot of folks heading back to school on this fall-like day. thanks. >> delightful. let's go to jerry and see if the traffic is thus. >> delightful? not so much. let's head out. not that bad, but certainly not delightful. look at that. you can tell summertime's over, at least in montgomery county, picking up more volume than we've seen for a while now along i-270, but from frederick to rockville, down to the split,

travel lanes are open. no hang-ups. northbound moving along quite nicely. elsewhere, here's traffic headed for downtown along 395, en route to the 14th street bridges, loading up quickly, no incidents currently reported. barbara and joe, back to you. >> thanks. >> thank you, jerry. this morning students in montgomery countare climbing aboard a big yellow bus. that's because it's the first day of school there. news 4's tracee wilkins joins us live with more on what kids can expect this year. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, barbara. yes, they're getting on their buses, also driving inere at quince orchard. looks like they're doing a pretty good job so far. 139,000 students will be attending school this year in montgomery county, the largest school system in maryland, the 16th largest in the nation, and by many accounts considered one of the most successful schools in the nation. in fact, harvard just recently published a book focusing on its superintendent d jerry weast and the school system at large and the work they've done. they say their focus here is

reform. the superintendent is saying and digs to reform this focus is getting all these kids off to college. back to you in the studio. >> thank you. >> well, today's news 4 morning person has a special place in her heartr for children.sth i t the appyth inhltcsg' infants ro. om eylik a happyatchnglili t suzie has been taking wonderful care of bsieab for more than 20 s,iearreyee' w. ldto wow. sothste f fldir infants are now0 years old. an instant bond wsu o fe suzie due to her happy,e loving and attenticapp re. if you know someone lik suzie, e-mail that person'story along with a clear, close-up picture or video to morningperson@nbcwashington.com. >> well, there are dating disasters. then there are dates so bad they end up on the news. a woman in michigan went out to dinner with a man she knew only

as chris. police later told her that that's not his real name. she had to call officers when her date skipped out of the restaurant, skipped out on the bill, then stole her car. police tracked him down using his phone number andrrested him. we're pretty sure there will not be a second date. >> that's a bad dude. >> sounds like it. >> that's "news 4 today." thank you for starting your day with us. >> have a great day. we hope you'll join us tomorrow morning, wake up with us. we start at 4:55 a.m. see you then. >> bye.